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Residents of 51 West 86th Street have dealt with the presence of a sidewalk shed in front of their building for the last 15 years, something which was brought into the public eye back in July.
Now, tenants tell us that “This week [will mark] one year since the scaffolding appeared overnight, without warning, up the full facade of the building, on top of the 15-year-old sidewalk shed.”
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To commemorate the occasion, residents of the Weinreb-owned rental building will be holding a mock celebration in front of the building on Saturday, October 9 between 3-5pm, Patch was first to report.
Those in attendance will include Council Member Helen Rosenthal and Silly Billy, a clown.
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Appearances may also be made by Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, who wrote a letter to Weinreb in July to apply pressure, as well as Council Member Ben Kallos.
“It should be a good-natured but also serious way for tenants to continue to share publicly our HUGE frustration about the sidewalk shed and scaffolding we are living under,” a tenant tells us.
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Tenants will be reciting the following chant at the celebration:
Weinreb! You are such a clown!
Take the shed and scaffold down!
Shed’s been here since oh-oh-six!
But the façade has not been fixed!
Fifteen years is way too long!
No excuse! It’s just plain wrong!
Weinreb, you are such a clown!
Do the work! Take this eyesore down!
Residents of 51 West 86th Street also expect other Weinreb tenants to attend, as it’s been revealed that there are sidewalk sheds at ten of the landlord’s other buildings – including 5 West 86th Street, 255 West 88th Street, 777 West End Avenue, 420 West End Avenue and 276 Riverside Drive.
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“Thanks to the coverage in iLovetheUWS and elsewhere and to continued pressure from our tenants association, Weinreb finally filed a new application with the Landmarks Planning Commission on September 8th, as you know, [which] remains under review. But as you may also know, he’s filed applications before, only to let them lapse. Bottom line, there is still no end in sight and we are heading into year 16 with our sidewalk shed.”
